Christine Latham

Christine Latham (born 15 September 1981 in Calgary, Alberta) is a Canadian former soccer forward who played for the Boston Breakers of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) and the Canada women's national soccer team.

Christine Latham
Personal information
Full name Christine Latham
Date of birth (1981-09-15) 15 September 1981
Place of birth Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position(s) Forward
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2002 Nebraska Cornhuskers 94 (69)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003 San Diego Spirit 19 (6)
2005 New Jersey Wildcats 4 (4)
2006–2008 Atlanta Silverbacks 28 (22)
2009 Boston Breakers 16 (2)
National team
2000–2006 Canada 49 (15)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Early years and university

Latham played eight years with the Calgary Celtics, a youth team coached by her father, Brian. She was recruited by, and eventually chose to attend, the University of Nebraska. While at the university, she played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers women's soccer team from 1999 to 2002. She was named a three-time NSCAA All-American and left as the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Nebraska women's program with 69 goals. She added a further 29 assists in her 4-year career.

Transition to professional soccer

Upon graduating from Nebraska, Latham joined San Diego Spirit of Women's United Soccer Association as a Discovery Player in February 2003. In her first year, she scored 6 goals en route to being named the 2003 WUSA Rookie of the Year. This proved to be her last year in the league as the WUSA suspended operations following the conclusion of the 2003 season.

Latham joined New Jersey Wildcats of the W-League in 2005, appearing in 4 games (296 minutes) while scoring 4 goals and assisting on 3 others.

The following season, Latham joined fellow Canadian internationals Sharolta Nonen and Melissa Tancredi at Atlanta Silverbacks. In her first year with the Silverbacks, Latham appeared in 6 games (495 minutes), scoring twice and adding an assist. 2007 saw the departure of Tancredi and Latham increased her production to compensate. She appeared in 9 games (677 minutes) and scored 7 goals with 2 further assists. 2008 saw Latham increase her production even further, appearing in 13 games (1081 minutes) and while getting 13 goals and 2 assists.

The new Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league took notice of her and Boston Breakers claimed her as a Post-Draft Discovery Player on 10 October 2008. She agreed to terms with the club on 9 January 2009 and played in the 2009 WPS season for Boston. She appeared in 16 games (8 starts, 654 total minutes) and scored twice with one assist. Her option for the 2010 WPS season was picked up by Boston on 28 September 2009.

International career

Latham's international debut came on 5 May 2000 against South Korea. With the Canada women's national soccer team, Latham appeared in the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup, scoring three goals in six games. She ended her international career with 15 goals in 49 appearances.

In August 2006 Latham and Charmaine Hooper refused to attend two exhibition games against China and fell into dispute with team coach Even Pellerud. Along with a third disgruntled player, Sharolta Nonen, they publicly called for Pellerud's removal. Alleging he had pressured them to break their club contracts in order to join Vancouver Whitecaps and had tried to fix the outcome of a USL W-League play-off by releasing certain national team players but not others.[1] Pellerud suspended the players and terminated their funding. In June 2007 an arbitrator ruled in favour of the coach. Hooper's replacement as captain Christine Sinclair strongly criticised the players' actions: "They let down their teammates and since then have done nothing to rectify it. I wouldn't want them as teammates."[2]

Post-playing career

Latham served as a commentator for Fox Sports at the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship and as a studio analyst for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.[3]

gollark: I mean, funny, but really stupid.
gollark: And possibly morally wrong, depending on your views on some things.
gollark: Deliberately giving up ultimate cosmic power is really stupid.
gollark: Because they know things like "the best way to achieve goal X is Y".
gollark: Also, for a broad enough definition of "everything about the world", they are already nigh-omnipotent.

References
  1. Mallett, Peter (21 October 2006). "Players call for inquiry into coach". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  2. "Arbitrator rules in Canadian soccer coach's favour". CBC Sports. 20 June 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  3. "Christine Latham". Fox Sports. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
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